Mary Ellen Gulch 1st gen recovery

[KidVermicious]

I mentioned last year that I'd had a chance to help out with a truly awesome recovery. This truck had tried to cross a washed out switchback at the top of the canyon, and slipped off the side of the road. A couple trucks had headed up to help the night after it happened, but in the dark they weren't able to accomplish anything but make it slide further, so they backed off. A couple days later we got a crew together, with lots of winches and picks and shovels and some truly burly homemade rebar anchor points. We dug a trench for his uphill wheels to track in, then set the anchors uphill and used a pair of winches to pendelum him while he drove out under his own power. Then we did it again while he drove back the other way. The entire thing went like clockwork.

Here's a video a buddy of mine made:

 

[SV_Dude]

Interesting. How steep was the hill? Videos and pictures never do a sticky situation any justice. I take it he was at a big risk of rolling over? Either way, it looks like a well orchestrated recovery. Well done!

 

[KidVermicious]

Interesting. How steep was the hill? Videos and pictures never do a sticky situation any justice. I take it he was at a big risk of rolling over? Either way, it looks like a well orchestrated recovery. Well done!

It wasn't just steep, it was a slippy offcamber washout of small shale flakes and other mine tailings. It was hard to just walk across without your feet digging out under you, and if that truck had slid just a bit more, it would have tipped and rolled several hundred yards. It was sketchy, for sure.